June 4, 2017 AT 12:00 am

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein shows us how science fiction predicts the present and shapes the future #SciFiSunday

Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds is a new MIT Press book commemorating the bicentennial of the publication of Mary Shelley’s seminal novel “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.”

I was honored to be asked to contribute an essay to the edition, which they titled I’ve Created a Monster! And so can you. It’s a look at how Shelley’s book illustrates the relationship of science fiction to the present (it reflects back our hopes and fears) and the future (those hopes and fears shape what we do).